Looking for a sultry wine to set the mood for Valentine’s Day? This voluptuous wine with rich, black cherry and raspberry fruit layered with flavors of anise, tobacco and dried cherries will woo even the most elusive valentine. It is full and warm in the mouth, with the ripe fruit nicely balanced with zesty acidity and polished tannins. Serve it with wild mushroom risotto or a steamy lamb stew.

Valpolicella comes from the Veneto region of northeastern Italy, home to the town of Verona, which was the setting for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The wine is usually made from a combination of indigenous grape varieties, in this case corvina, rondinella and oseleta. Ripassa is the Zenato family’s version of a style of Valpolicella that goes through a second fermentation with the skins and seeds of a recently fermented amarone, made from dried grapes. It gives this wine its richness and dried fruit aromas and flavors, perfect for stealing your valentine’s heart.

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